Saint Valentine's Vignettes
by Bizzy
Summary: Saint Valentine's Day was never the highlight of the year in their small and slightly overcrowded office...
1. Chapter 1

Saint Valentine's Day was never the highlight of the year in their small, slightly overcrowded office. The men would exchange miserable glares and, as per the stiff order of the resident female, exchange cards denoting friendship. More often than not, the blonde was even responsible for purchasing said cards, and said that Saint Valentine's Day did _not_ need to be specifically about couples of the male-and-female kind exchanging gifts.

The commanding officer got far too many little trinkets for his own liking, piled atop his desk ridiculously high, sometimes spilling onto the floor. Chocolates and cards, usually, and the edible of the two the raven-haired alchemist would pass around the office without a second thought. The other men gathered this and that over the years, and they too passed chocolates around the room spare the portly Second Lieutenant who didn't dare share.

The resident female, however, was doted on. Certainly, her desk was never in quite the same state of chaos as her superior officer's, but it did tend to be crowded with a flower or so on the holiday. She always found places for them; she gave the yellow flowers to a friend in the Investigations office who happened to love bright yellow daisies, and she gave the deep red carnations to the bookkeeper down the hall. Either way, any white lily that found its' way to her desk would remain in the office to keep the space just that much brighter for the duration of it's short, flower-like life.

Every year for however long the company worked together, the men would reluctantly pass around cards to one another, and quite cheerfully place small bundles of flowers on the blonde's desk. It was one of the few days in the year they came to the office before her, just so that she wouldn't know who had left what flowers. And every year, as per tradition, she would arrive with cards as was expected of her.

But this year, there was no blonde-haired First Lieutenant to leave flowers for. Her desk had been empty for two and a half weeks by the time Saint Valentine's Day rolled around, and the men said nothing about the absence. Thankfully, they had last heard, she was safe, fighting on the front lines all the way at Briggs fortress. The upheaval had started just at the start of February, and their sharp-eyed shooter was shipped off North to defend her country, as she was so apt to doing.

Even without her prying amber eyes to ensure it, the men passed around their cards in especially somber spirits.


	2. Chapter 2

The bulk of February the fourteenth came and went without event, in the opinion of the distantly-stationed First Lieutenant. Unlike the Central, the weather up north was decidedly frigid, and she spend her off time huddled under the blanket in the small room she called her own out here, teeth chattering away as snow fell outside her window.

Most of the people stationed this far north that had come around the same time as she waited anxiously for the mailbag that day. They huddled around the fireplace, jittery, and for the first time in weeks alight with anticipation for the love they expected to be receiving via pieces of parchment from wherever they came from. She found herself pressed against the dark brick of the fireplace; arms crossed as she listened to names being called as letters came spilling out of the bag.

It was when someone was elbowing her in the stomach that she snapped to attention. The mailperson was calling her name and waving the envelope frantically in her direction, as though he had called her several times already and was trying to keep back a tidal wave of lonely soldiers missing their loved ones. She clamored to get her envelope, grabbing it stiffly and retreating to her small room in the far end of the corridor and lighting the lamp as electricity was a commodity the struggling fortress couldn't afford.

Huddled under her blanket and already bundled up in her coat, she held the parchment up to the light, for the first time feeling warmth spread through her as she read her first letter from home.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been the idea of the 'baby' of the office to write her a letter for the holiday. She had sent word, via telegram, just once since she had left. The telegraph had been deceptively brief—arrived safe, doing well, take care. She never had been one for many words so the format of a telegram suited her, though their commanding officer was too ashamed of the fact to admit that he wished she had said more.

Their effort to write a nice letter for the woman had not gone unnoticed by their grumpy first-in-command, and he decided to take part in the fiasco, though he insisted upon adding his portion on at the end. She would want to read something interesting after all of her coworker's foolishness, he rationalized. The last four centimeters and the back of the page of parchment they left for him.

On February ninth, he was still fussing with his pen and griping about how he didn't know what to write. By the afternoon of the tenth, he was infuriated and panicked—he knew the letter would not arrive on time if it wasn't finished and mailed that day. It took him all through his usual lunch break, but he finally managed to get his portion on that letter by 1300 hours. The woman at the desk assured him that the letter would reach Briggs by the fourteenth.

_I don't suppose there will be any flowers for you this year. One generally doesn't purchase flowers for a person who can't appreciate them, and there's no fun in placing them on your desk before you come in because you won't be here to figure our which came from whom. In my opinion, I think you've long since figured out who gave you what—and thusly distributed your yellow daisies and red carnations appropriately to represent the giver's intentions. I suppose that it then shouldn't surprise me that the white lilies are the only flowers still in the office on February fifteenth. _


	4. Chapter 4

The front line was chaotic the days following the holiday. Men and women who had gladly received the boost from their significant others were slowly starting to lose steam, the excitement waning as letters were trampled on in the crowded rooms or lost in the ice and snow. She kept her letter tucked carefully in her cot, sitting safely beneath her pillow during the day and only revealed when the day was long since over.

It was almost a week later when she finally had the chance to write back. She sat at the fireplace quietly in the middle of the night, well aware of the fact that she should be sleeping as it was such a precious commodity, but it was the only time the well-lit room maintained a semblance of peace and quiet.

_It was very kind of you to write._

With every stroke of her pen, she wished she had been home to spend the holiday. She wasn't one for the ridiculous fluff that went along with it, but she missed her coworkers and their antics. It was a shame, she had mused, that they wouldn't give each other cards. They didn't want to admit it, but she saw the smiles on their faces when they read what their friends had written.

_I'm glad things are going well in the office._

She missed her little puppy, which was probably going stir-crazy in her commanding officer's home by now. It wasn't that the man's apartment was smaller than hers, really—it was larger, even. But the black-and-white pup hated being confined indoors and required to wait to be let out; where her door had a small flap to allow her pet the freedom to come and go as he chose, her commanding officer's did not. When the nights drew in and she could feel the chill deep into her bones, she wished her little dog was there to sit on her toes and share his warmth.

_Things seem to be getting better here. I should be back by the second week of March, if the situation continues to improve._

Someone creaked open the heavy wooden door, her heavy boots clicking against the floor as she walked to the fireplace. The women were not unfamiliar to one another; the General was a harsh commander but knew a good soldier when she saw one. At that precise moment, the commanding blonde peered down at her temporary subordinate, sitting by the fireplace and scratching away on a letter. The Lieutenant looked up, stiffening and offering a salute.

_The General never seems to tire of my ability to respond to her presence, and finds way to test how quickly I notice her often. It reminds me of why I am so happy to work with you._


	5. Chapter 5

March first came and went, the following week passing surprisingly quickly for an office that felt so out of sorts.

The office was getting dusty. Files piled up around the room, not necessarily incomplete but just allowed to collect without their diligent coworker to pick them up. It wasn't that they were disorganized men, really. It was that they really couldn't be bothered to fuss with 'housekeeping' sort of activities, and certainly weren't irritated by the mess.

White Day was rapidly approaching.

The men always looked forward to White Day. While they did secretly enjoy passing out their little cards that their female coworker encouraged and, though they would never admit it to her face, they all enjoyed choosing the flowers to place on her desk, it was White Day they looked forward to the most. It wasn't that they gave the gifts to her just to receive something in return.

But they really did love her cooking.

Every year since their holiday tradition began, their diligent blonde lieutenant would bake away on March thirteenth, a day she usually took off specifically for the occasion. On the fourteenth, exactly a month post Saint Valentine's Day, she would arrive early in the morning with some baked and chocolate confection. It was a thank-you holiday, she had explained the first time doing it, that her mother had always encouraged her to do.

Each year, the chocolate confection was different. One year, it was a decadent batch of brownies; the next white chocolate-chip cookies. They never told her, but they would place bets on what the confection would be that year, as she never made the same thing twice.

This year, they came in to find her desk empty on March thirteenth, and though it was something she did every year, they couldn't help but feel disappointed. There was a rumor that the troops sent north were finally returning in bits and pieces, but they hadn't heard from her since her letter.

For the first time in years, they didn't want any chocolate, sugary goodness on March fourteenth. They wanted her to just come back to the office.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, while the men diligently worked away in silence, the office door creaked open. In unison, five jaws dropped at the sight of a slightly bedraggled and clearly over-exhausted blonde first-lieutenant standing in their doorway. She was holding a plate covered in tin foil, and smiling tiredly as she stepped inside.

She barely made it two steps in before the cigarette-smoking second lieutenant was there to grab the plate from her and set it aside. This action was quickly followed by a short but tight embrace, along with a murmured comment along the lines of 'good to see you again'. The paunchy, oversized second lieutenant ignored the food entirely, up from his desk in a heartbeat to salute her and offer her a toothy, excited grin. The resident walking-library recited that he was very glad to see her return in one piece, and that she had returned sans frostbite, a common ailment found in soldiers returning from up north. The bespectacled sergeant was so excited to see her, he was positively beaming.

It seemed like she had little to say about what had occurred in her absence as she explained that she had been just a tiny bit short on flour, and that this years treats might be just a tad bit off compared to other years. Unwrapping her tin foil covered creations, a batch of homemade chocolate cupcakes, decorated with fresh frosting. She made a point to mention that she left the frosting and cupcakes to sit overnight, to allow the frosting to set up properly and make the cupcakes survive the journey.

They were so excited as they dug into their treats that they didn't notice that she had crept to the back of the room to her commanding officer's desk, holding his cupcake. She placed it beside his cup of tea, smiling at him tiredly. He stood, turning to her and, while checking carefully to make sure nobody was watching, grabbed her hand and kissed her cheek quickly. Taken aback, she took a quarter step away from him, her cheeks flushed a flattering shade of crimson.

If she had been surprised by the kiss, it was nothing to when, beaming proudly at her, he held a single white lily under her nose.

* * *

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I'm not really certain where this came from, but I liked the way its come out, not using names but just descriptions. I hope you enjoyed Saint Valentine's Vignettes, Royai style!


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